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Thursday, October 3, 2013

One Score and Zero Years Ago: The 1993 Stadium Club Braves

While the third offering from Topps' High-End Stadium Club brand featured better photography, more vibrant colors and better action shots than its previous release, it still couldn't match the 'wow-factor' of the classic 1991 set.

Like the first two sets, the backs of the '93 cards contain a small replica of each players 'Rookie Card' (first Topps' card, that is!) as well as unique charts featuring stats that you may not find on any other cards. There's also a stat line for each player's 1992 season, along with righty/lefty splits for both pitchers and hitters.

1992 on Grass: 86 Games, 8 W, 3 Saves, 2.68 ERA. Um, according to baseball reference...no, he didn't. I think whoever did the back of his card had been smoking some bud on the job.

Damon Berryhill: "Damon hits well in front of big crowds"

1992 Stats with attendance of 40,000+ .330, 3 HR, .377 OBP, .536 SLG I guess there is a stat for everything imaginable.

Favorite Photos:

#172 Mark Lemke- Far from what I would call a photogenic face, Lemmer always seems to have the best cards. It's some weird kind of cardboard law.

#205 Alejandro Pena- Talk about focused! He's like the Harlem Globetrotter of MLB.

Child's Play

Topps distributed a 100-card Stadium Club "Toys R Us" boxed set, which sold at Toys 'R Us Stores and featured many rookies and top prospects. With the store name in the upper right-hand corner and a gold foil-stamped (backwards) R next to the player's name, the cards have a distinct "Stadium Club" look to them. Backs, likewise, are colorful and contain 1992 stat lines, complete career stat lines, and a few facts about the player.

Topps' distributed a four-sport, 59-card set to those who signed up for their Topps Stadium Club Members club. Similar to the regular '93 issue, the Members Only cards feature a gold foil stamp beneath the players' name which reads Members Only. Cards are not numbered.

NoNumber Greg Maddux

Way to Create Confusion, Topps!

In March of 1993-one month after Series 1 hit the streets- Topps released a special hobby-only boxed set referred to as the 1993 Stadium Club Jack Murphy. The card backs themselves look like the '92 TSC, and even show a copyright of 1992, but are considered a 1993 product. The set contained a great mixture of All-Stars, Team USA players, draft picks, and cards highlighting the 1992 post-season. Oh, yeah, it also contains (in my opinion) the best rookie card of Derek Jeter.

Retail giant Walmart got into the action during the 1993 baseball season, selling exclusive team sets of 16 different major league teams. Packaged in blister packs, the cards are similar to the Toys R Us in their look and feel. John Smoltz, Chipper Jones, Ryan Klesko and Javy Lopez also signed cards, which were used as pack-toppers in a number of Braves team sets.